Whom does Aaron as a priest
represent?
In brief, we answer, Christ; but Aaron with Moses as an
administrator of judgment represents
the saints with Christ.
In the
deliverance of Israel he is administrator
of judgment; while in the
work of atonement, as revealed in Lev. 16, he is priest.

But if Aaron as priest represents
Christ, in order to understand the
subject, it is necessary to answer the
question, Who is Christ?
This may
seem to some a strange question,
but to us it is very important.
We
think it has been shown that the
Christ of the Scriptures is a compound
being.
Divine and human,
and that there are two stages of His
existence after his birth in the flesh,
first the natural, afterward the spiritual.
In the first He was a Divine
being in human form, and in the
second a human being in Divine
form.
He is "the root and the offspring of David" since His exaltation
as well as before. Rev. 22:16 and Rom. 1:3-4.
The mystery
of Godliness includes His being exaltedto glory as well as the manifestationin the flesh.1 Tim. 3:16.

It has also been shown from time
to time that the Christ of scripture
is a complex being, presented to our minds by the figure of a manHead and Body;Jesus Himself
being the Head and believers being
the many members of the one Body.
This being true it follows that there
is a progressive development of Christ
from Jesus in the flesh, until the
last member of His Body is exalted
to glory.
What was true of the
Head is also true of each member
of the Body, first a manifestation in
the flesh, and afterward an ascension
to glory.

Because the Head was exalted to
glory at the beginning of the gospel
age, and the Body is not so exalted
until the end of the age, it follows
that Christ is represented as acting
in both Heaven and Earth at the
same time during the gospel age.
It is that same Divinity which,
dwelling in the humanity of Jesus,
constituted Him the Son of God,
which dwelling in us constitutes us
the sons of God.
In Him it was
native, while we derive it from
Him, as branches derive their life
from the vine.
The Spirit of truth
manifested in the church is Christ's
representative, was given as an evidence
of the acceptance of our Head
and the completeness of His work,
and is termed Christ in us. Rom. 8:9-10, Gal. 2:20 and 4:19, and Col. 1:27.

In this last verse He is called,
"the hope of glory,"the only hope
of success.
As He conquered by
virtue of the Spirit, so it is only by
the Spirit that we can overcome and
reach glory.
Paul says, "I can do
all things, through Christ that
strengtheneth me." Phil. 4:13.

All this work of the gospel age is
the antitype of the work of the
atonement day,the tenth day of
the seventh monthunder the law.
And as Aaron made the sacrifices
then, and as Christ either in Himself
or in us, makes the sacrifices in
this age, it follows that at the beginning of the atonement day Aaron
represented Jesus Himself; in the
sacrifice of the goat he represented
Christ in the saints, who follow the
Lord in sacrifice; and in cleansing
the sanctuary and laying his hands
on the head of the scapegoat, he
represented Christ and the saints,
who execute judgments and deliver.

It seems as if this principle of
growth must apply as surely as the
idea of Christ is progressive.
As
Aaron's work of that day represents
the whole work of the gospel age,
we cannot escape the conclusion
that at the beginning he represented
the Head, and at the end represented
the whole Body, or perfect Christ.

The closing work of Aaron,the
change of garments and the washing
of his flesh,we have purposely
left unmentioned until now.
The
consideration of the work of the
atonement dayboth type and antitypehas changed our ideas of this
washing.
We will endeavor to present
our present view of the subject,
without reference to the past.
An
increase of light on any subject
modifies former ideas.
We think
this subject of the washing has never
been presented in the light of the
true character of Christ as the
Divine in the human, and as progressive in development.
We will
not claim perfection of thought, but
present our ideas with the assurance
that truth will stand the test, and
imperfect ideas will be pruned by
further investigations.

We believe further, that this subject
of washing can only be understood
in connection with a right
view of baptism.
We think our
readers have had placed before them
of late a very clear view of this subject.
There is a symbolic baptism,
and a real one.
The symbolic is a
sinking into and rising from the
water.
The real baptism has two
phasesfirst the denial of self and
living to God, or, as Paul expresses
it, dying to sin and living to holiness;
(Rom. 6,) and second, dying
to mortality and living to
immortality.

As Aaron at first represented
Jesus alone, so the first washing of
Aaron's flesh was fulfilled in that
phase of baptism which introduced
our Saviour to the work of the ministry,
with the "holy linen garments"
or, representing Him as a
righteous servant.
And all who
follow Him in the voluntary sacrifice
of self and the world, are counted
as dead with Him, buried with
Him, and risen with Him.
This one
baptism, or washing, carried to its
legitimate consequences, brings both
Christ and the saints into a state of
immortality.
Then why should
Aaron wash his flesh a second time?
Because the "great multitude" of
the household of Christ, represented
by the house of Aaron, and for
whom atonement was made by the first sacrifice, have failed to present
themselves a voluntary sacrifice,
and are therefore not entitled according
to the original arrangement
to the Divine life and a place in the
kingdom.

It is true that before this second
washing they have been separated
and washed their robes, and thus
have done what is involved in the
first phase of the real baptism, but
it is not with the "great multitude"
as with the "little flock"a voluntary
sacrifice; they are driven to it,
so to speak, under the influence of
peculiar judgments.
So the first
washing could not properly represent
them.

It is evident that Christ Himself
and the saints once washed and
glorified need not the second.
We
have seen that before the second
washing of Aaron the blood of the
goat had been sprinkled, representing
the ascension of the saints; the
sanctuary was cleansed representing
the separation of the "great multitude"
from Babylon, giving them a
position on, "as it were, a sea of
glass;" and the hands laid on the
scapegoat, representing the pouring
of the seven last plagues on Babylon.
Now all that remains to be
done for that multitude is their
complete deliverance from the
world, as Israel were delivered from
Egypt after the plagues.
These are
the only part, (and they are the
great part) of Christ's body who at
that point of time remain unwashed.
When that is done, all are rewarded,Christ his saints and the great
multitude who are to serve before
the throne.

That the great multitude are
Christ's in the sense we have presented
seems evident even from the
fact that they have robes; that is,
they had been counted holy, or had
Christ's righteousness imputed to
them.
But they had defiled their
garments by contact with Babylon,
and therefore their loss of the crown,
and the need of the judgments to
separate them.

Christ is acting as priest in all whoare possessed of His Spirit; and that
work of the Spirit cannot be complete
until all the household are
immortal.

The garments worn after the first
washing were the "holy linen garments,"
representing the righteous
servant; and this is the condition
of every member of the body, from
Jesus down, during the period of
sacrifice, or other earthly work.
But the garments worn after the
second washing, are "the garments
for glory and beauty" or the ordinary
garments of the high priest,
except on the day of sacrifice.
Language is unmeaning if the garments
"for glory and beauty" described
in Exodus 28 are the
same as the simple attire of the
priests during the work of sacrifice.
We know that the holy linen garments
were worn only on the day
of atonement, or tenth day of the
seventh month, but in Ex. 28:29-30 we learn that the glorious garments
were to be worn before the
Lord continually.

We know that if Christ had not
been a priest during His earth life,
He could not have offered the sacrifice,
and we know also that He
wore the robe of righteousness, but
not the robe of glory until His ascension.
And we have the assurance
that if we wear the robe of
righteousness, and follow Him in
sacrifice, we shall be glorified with
Him.
From which it is evident
that the garment to be worn after
the second washing is the glorious
garment.

The work of the high priest under
the law was an annual repetition in
type, of what Christ does only once,
and he would not have been a type
of the Christ if, when he had gone
through with the service of the
tenth day of the seventh month for
the first time, he had after the second
washing put on his old clothes. Of course, if, as we believe, he wore
the glorious garments "continually,"
that is all through the year, except
on the atonement day, it would
follow that when he came to the
first washing of all succeeding
atonement days, he would lay aside [R161 : page 7] the glorious garments to begin again
the work of sacrifice, and put them
on again after the second washing.

When once the perfect Christ is
glorified, it is evident that they will
not lay that glory aside until the
work is done which was represented
by a whole year under the law, and
it will never need repetition.
The
one perfect sacrifice lasts forever. Heb. 10:12.
His priesthood will be
as endless as His mediatorial reign,
and that continues after His coming
until all His enemies are subdued.

But some one may ask: "If, as
you claim, He was a priest when
He was here in the flesh, and will
continue to be a priest after His return
during His reign, how will you
harmonize Paul's statement: "If
He were on earth, He should not
be a priest." Heb. 8:4.
If any
one will carefully read the context,
he will see that Paul is contrasting
the typical priesthood of the tribe of
Levi, and the antitypical priesthood
of our Lord, who sprang out of
Judah.
The typical is the earthly,
and the work of the antitype is the
heavenly.
The statement of Paul is
equivalent to saying: "If this service
were the typical, our Lord who
sprang from Judah would not be a
priest, for there are priests of the
tribe of Levi, who offer according
to the law."
Please read the context
for yourselves.
Whoever is
determined, in spite of the context,
to force the idea that Christ could
do no part of His work as a priest on earth, must either deny that
Christ is a "priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek," or that He
will return to earth until that "forever"
is ended.
All Christ's priestly
work is heavenly, though part of
it is performed on earth, because
He is a priest by virtue of His Divinity
or heavenly nature.
And
what is true of Christ the Head is
true, in turn, of each member
of the body.
Christ in us, to perform
the work of sacrifice, is the
hope of glory.
How significant
then the exhortation of the apostle,
"Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling, for it is God thatworketh in you, both to will and to
do of His good pleasure."
The Divine
in the human is the only hope
of humanity.
J. H. P.